Hanuman Hymns
Selected extracts from my newly published book
All literature is fiction and all fiction is based on reality. Imagination itself is a corollary of perception and experience of reality. Even all scriptural literature in the world is born of perception, experience and cognition. On the time scale of infinity, all literature scriptural or temporal is antipodal. It follows then that the eternal quality of scriptural literature inheres in its fictional character which through a mix of highest imagination and the transformational element of timelessness turns the reality of life into myths and frees it from the bonds of historical time, giving it a symbolical paradigm that characterises its antipodality. All scriptural literature existing in a timeless frame thus transforms itself into its mythicality where even the literary devices acquire a complex signification dissolving the canons of plausibility. It becomes a kind of fiction that transcends all the barriers of temporal reality and acquires a level of spirituality that can only be imbibed wholly through unquestioning faith.
Creativity knows no boundaries. In a sense, all creativity in the past, present and future is an unbroken continuity, what Eliot so presciently observed in his famous essay ‘Tradition and Individual Talent’ where he speaks of a “conception of poetry as a living whole of all the poetry that has ever been written”. This inevitable continuity also implies translation which often gains the status of transcreation. Tulsidas’s Manas can also be seen thus as a successful example of such transcreation in popular contemporary language with suitable redaction of Valmiki’s Ramayan where the ‘individual talent’recreates the same artistic material in a new form with a new synergy in a new historical context, in a contemporary language closer to people and with a greater mass appeal. Indeed, there is a genre of literary creation – in practically all forms of literature: poetry, fiction and drama - defined by the urges and convictions of a people, as was clearly the case with Tulsi’s Manas, which lent it a popular reach and expanse rivalled by few other literary works. And one of the significant traits of such works is that they can seldom be recreated wih comparable equivalence or excellence. As a background to the translated hymns of Hanuman, I have attempted to write in a separate chapter a prose version of the latter part of the Hanuman story as written by Tulsidas in mixed Awadhi and Hindi verse in the Manas. There are a number of anecdotal references to Hanuman in several of the Sanskrit scriptures, but the most consistent and widely popular is the story of Hanuman as presented in Tulsidas’s Ramcharit Manas.
Of all the literature available on Hanamana, mostly in Sanskrit1, the most popular are some of those written by Tulsidas, especially three - Hanumana Chalisa, Bajrang Bana and Hanumanashtak. The fourth, Hanuman Bahuk, like the preceding three, is composed in Brajbhasha and all four are part of daily prayers by Hindu devotees in India as well as by the Hindu diaspora the world over. I have chosen not to translate the more popularly chanted hymns like Chalisa or Bajrang Bana, or the Sanskrit hymn in Ramcharit Manas,like ‘Atulit bal dhamam’. But I have translated in prose some of the episodes involving Hanuman in Kishkindha, Lanka and Uttar Kand (with Sugreev, Ravan, Bibhishan, Seeta,etc) from Tulsidas’ Manas as background material for references in the translated pieces in Hanuman Bahuk, Vinay Patrika and the Sanskrit Maruti Shatakam in this compilation.
Hanuman is the most popularly worshipped and ubiquitous animal god in Hinduism. Next to Him in popular worship is Ganesh, the elephant god. Surprisingly, both are named, in scriptural contexts, as ‘Mangalmoortti’ – god of general well-being (a name associated with no other Hindu god). We have generally more temples dedicated to Hanuman even in the remotest, small villages, all over India as compared to those of either Ganesh or Ram-Seeta (where again the image of a sitting, praying, Hanuman is omnipresent).
Each anthromorphic image of a god deity has its own religious symbolism and rituals, which is very distinctive in the case of Hanuman, with a red flag fluttering over every Hanuman temple, with its own special ‘prasad’ (sweet offering) - ‘laddoo’ or ‘churma’. Both these Hindu animal gods – Hanuman and Ganesh are always found – the former invariably in a standing posture (or siting on knees in a Ram-Seeta sanctum) and the latter invariably in a sitting or reclining posture as a human, with only their faces displaying the animal features, the rest of the physique being truthfully human. The most distinctive animal features in Hanuman are his face and the tail, and, in th case of Ganesh, his elephant trunk and fan-like ears. Other distinctive features in Hanuman are a sculpted mascular bare body holding a heavy mace in one hand, and, in the case of Ganesh, a bare-bodied paunch, generally with a crown on head, and ‘laddoos’ held in one palm. In their general appearance, there is a mystical symbolism in the pleasant combination of their animal and human features. One thing, however, is patently clear that only the facial animal identity is associated with divinity; the other bodily features suggest unambiguous correlation to mundane humanity, which in its simple suggestivity points to the divine attributes of the upper torso (and especially the tail in the case of Hanuman)2. The curious amalgam of animal and human features may have multitudinous connotations of atavism, primordial features, intuitive attributes, civilizational evolution, and so forth, as mystical equivalents of divinity.
The two basic attributes of Hanuman are absolute fealty or devotion to the highest values of spirituality reflected in Ram’s divinity, and the most virile inimicality to evil, emphasised in a subtle way by the mace and the tail. The mace broke the bones of the demons in Lanka (representing evil) and the tail (ironically mocked at by Ravan’s courtiers, wrapped in clothes worn by demonesses, oiled liberally, and set aflame) had completely burnt and ravaged Lanka, Ravan’s kingdom island of evil. Tulsi depicts it thus:
रहा न नगर बसन घृत तेला | बाढ़ी पूंछ कीन्ह कपि खेला ||3
Even the petty-looking tail became an instrument of massive devastation of Lanka, as a premonition of the total annihilation of evil. Indeed, Hanuman, in His divine form, represents the infinite power of good in contrast with evil. Hanuman’s tail only epitomises that boundless power of good over evil.
Among all the important characters in the Ramayan, both in Valmiki and Tulsi (the two most widely revered literary epics), Hanuman’s role in the story (though only in the latter part of it) is exceptionally more vital as far as the fight against evil is concerned (which is the core part of the epics’ theme). The fight does begin early in the story with the young princes Ram and Lakshaman killing demons and monsters in sage Vishwamitra’s ashram, but the major battle is heralded by Hanuman’s flight across the sea to Lanka and its near-total destruction by an all-out burning spree. Indeed, the role of Hanuman in the Ramayan which begins half-way in the story in Kishkindha Kand, becomes more integral to the core theme of the war against evil in the rest of the story till its very end when, after His victory over Lanka, Ram returns to Ayodhya for the celebration of ‘Ram Rajya’ – the ideal order of human life. In Uttar Kand, Ram bids farewell to all his animal chieftains – Sugreev, Angad, Jamvant, et al but keeps Hanuman with Him – ‘संग परम प्रिय पवनकुमारा’, ‘सहित पवनसुत सुख अधिकाई’4. This we find picturised in all ‘Ram Darbar’ illustrations or idols in temples – Ram and Seeta seated on a throne with the three brothers – Bharat, Lakshaman and Shatrughn standing behind, and Hanuman sitting on His knees near Ram’s feet.
There is a mystical devotional interrelationship between Ram, Shiva and Hanuman in the epical story of Ramayan. Ram and Shiva are both mutually devoted to each other, as if being two sides of the same idol, with the additional indivisibility of Shiva’s reincarnation as Hanuman5, as a permanent devotee of Ram.
This brings us to the curious and fascinating story of Hanuman’s birth. Hanuman is ‘Anjaniputra’, son of Anjani, the queen of the monkey king Kesari. In the Sanskrit scriptures there are many stories of levirate births, where some divine force other than the husband invisibly fathers a child. As the story goes, the monkey queen Anjana one day was relaxing on a hillside when the Wind god ‘Pawandev’ blowing there inseminated Anjana with His seed resulting in the birth of Hanuman (known by the various names – ‘Pavantanay’, Pawansuta’, ‘Pawanputra’, etc), prefiguring his supreme deed of crossing the ocean to Lanka.
This is in stark contrast to the story of the birth of Ram and his three brothers after Darshrath fed his three queens – Kaushalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra – with divided portions of ‘kheer’ (rice porridge) obtained from the fire-god (Agnidev) after the performance of an elaborate‘yajna’ ( with an obvious suggestion of seminal impregnation). Ram, thus, was born in the normal form of a human being, subsequently seen as a divine incarnation in mythology, whereas Hanuman was born by a seemingly ‘divine conception’ turning into human form with partial animal attributes subsequently when in His association with Ram, He is raised to divinity. Shiva, on the other hand, is both the chief narrator of the story of Ram, as well as a fused represntation of the characters of both Ram and Hanuman in the story.
In fact, the Hanuman saga is a complexly woven pattern of mythical episodes involving the three main characters – Ram, Shiva and Hanuman across a large vista of Sanskrit scriptural texts including Valmiki’s Ramayan, Adhyatma Ramayan, Padma Puran, Shiva Puran, Brahmand Puran, etc. and, of course, later in a number of variations of the Ramayan story in Tulsi’s Ramcharit Manas and several other later literary texts in the various Indian languages6.
Another thing to emphasize is that Hanuman, in his part-monkey fom, for the common man, can be more naturlly associated with a god in an animal form symbolizing the primal, atavistic power of the animate world and possessing an instinctual wisdom who, when fully awakened, transforms into an infinite reservoir of vigour and energy. He is as humble and benevolent for the good as He is mighty and devastating for the evil. He is a god unique and perfect like no other in the Hindu pantheon. Even in the remotest corners of rural India the monkey Hanuman can be seen, with His mace on shoulder, as capable of dispelling all evil in the world. Even the most illiterate farmer and labourer in remote villages chants the Hanuman Chalisa for deliverance from adversity and misery. Hanuman, indeed, is the common man’s god most easily invoked. In Tulsi sings in Hanuman Chalisa : “तुम्हरे भजन राम को पावै | जनम जनम के दुःख बिसरावै ||” Hanuman has mysterious powers as Tulsidas depicts Him in the ‘Sundarkand’ of Ramcharit Manas. He has to be invoked and remembered to become fully manifest. Just before His flight across the ocean to Lanka, Jamvant reminds him of his power:
कवन सो काज कठिन जग मांहीं | जो नहिं होइ तात तुम्ह पाहीं ||
राम काज लगि तव अवतारा | सुनतहिं भयउ पर्वताकारा || [4/29.3]
Indeed, Hanuman represents the hidden potentials in a human being that need to be reawakened. He is everyman’s god in their moment of need.
The stories and hymns collected here in this compilation in an English translation bring out only a semblance of the power and reach of Hanuman. His might and glory is infinite beyond the power of words and imagination. All these stories and hymns give only a faint reflection of his might and majesty. He is godly, infinite and inscrutable. He is divine and yet earthly, closer to us in our everyday life more than any other god. He is always by our side, always within us, as a potential reservoir of goodness and capability.
The idea in this compilation is to achieve a ‘book unity’ in the presentation of the hymns (including the Manas prose summary) forming a totality. The book is intended to be a composite whole as a single prayer to the divinity of Hanuman. It includes three of the best hymns written on Hanuman - Hanuman Bahuk, some hymns in the Vinay Patrika and the Maruti Shatakam – along with a prose rendition of the episodes related to Hanuman in Ramcharit Manas (not available here in this blog-post).
Notes: 1. See Literature on Hanuman at end. 2.See the last stanzas (50-56) in ‘Maruti Shatakam’ glorifying Hanuman’s tail. 3.Sundar Kand, 24.34.Uttar Kand, 31.1, 32.1 5. As mentioned in Shiva Puran (Canto 19-20) and other Sanskrit scriptures god Shiva had wished to be born through Anjana’s womb (when impregnated by the Wind god) as Hanuman to serve Ram (Himself a reincarnation of Vishnu) as his adherent in Ram’s quest to end all evil in the world represented by Ravan. 6. See Literature on Hanuman at end.
From Hanuman Bahuk
1.
O Son of the Wind god,
Who shine like the morning Sun,
long-armed and fierce-faced,
veritable death even for Death,
You who flew across the ocean
to assuage Janaki’s sorrow;
One who fearlessly burnt
the dreadful forest of Lanka
which was virtually unburnable,
and who mauled the pride
of the twisted-browed,
ferocious demons – says Tulsidas –
You can easily be pleased
with dedicated reverence,
always standing benevolently
by the side of your devotees,
and always ready to destroy
your devotees’ afflictions – devotees
who would sing your praise, bow to you,
remember you and chant your name.
2.
With a body like Sumeru,
the mountain of burnished gold,
infinitely radiant like the midday’s sun,
large-hearted and brawny-armed,
yellow-eyed with fearsome brows,
visage, teeth and tongue; having
nails and physique of granite,
russet-haired, tough-tailed,
and ready to vanquish terrible demons -
none holding, says Tulsidas,
such dreadful form as
the Son of Wind’s in their heart,
can be afflicted even in a dream
by sin and sorrow.
5.
Sitting stoutly on
the flag of Arjuna’s chariot
in the Mahabharat war,
you roared so mightily
creating total chaos in
Duryodhana’s humongous forces.
Dronacharya and Bhishmapitamaha
both knew it wasYou, the prodigious
Son of Wind, whose vigour has
the fathomless depth of
the ocean of courage, who had
easily spanned the distance
between the earth and the Sun
across the sky, in a child’s play,
in less than a single step.
All the valiant chieftains,
with folded hands, again and again,
kept bowing their heads
in deep reverence, thus gaining
through your appearance
the realization of their
life’s worth in this world.
6.
Reducing the ocean to
the hollow of a cow’s hoof,
you fearlessly burnt
the impregnable Lanka,
creating there a terrible ballyhoo,
uprooting the gigantic
Drona mountain, holding it
in your hands sportingly like a ball,
like a veritable wooden apple,
performing (in Lakshaman’s trauma)
an act of exigency, in a trice,
impossible to be done even
in an eon, it became possible
under your mighty arms
O brave master of Tulsi,
protector and benefactor
of the worldly rulers.
7.
The hollows made by your
feet on the turtle’s back
may look like measuring cups
for the ocean’s waters,
that becomes a sanctuary
for the massive fishes where
demons hide to escape
from your terrible extermination;
says Tulsidas – whose valour
became the fierce blaze
burning Ravana, Kumbhakarna
and Meghnada to ashes,
which, said Bhishmapitamaha,
belonged, in the three worlds
and three eons, to none other
than the prodigious Hanuman.
8.
Worthy son of the Wind god,
and a bliss for Anjani, your mother,
blessed with the dazzling radiance
of a thousand suns, a messenger
of Raja Ramchandra, and slayer
of Seeta’s woes; destroyer of sins,
and vices, protector of the oppressed,
and dear as life to Lakshamana –
You have appeared in the three worlds
as the annihilator of Tulsi’s Ravana,
his unbearable penury.
O devotees, you must hold
in your hearts,the sage Hanumana,
repository of all virtues,
strength and benevolence.
From Vinay Patrika
25.
O victorious Hanuman!
A moon born of the ocean-like
womb of Anjani, rousing the clan
of gods, like a field of kumud flowers
to mirth, delighting the beautiful
chakor-like eyes of your father Kesari,
and wiping out the sorrows of all the worlds –
victory be Yours!
Even as a child in your childish pranks
You had swallowed the mighty rising
red glowing Sun, as if it be a toy,
crushing the admantine pride of Rahu,
Indra and the Sun. O protector of all
seeking your protection,
saviour of the world,
victory be Yours!
You, unwavering in every battle,
always ready to help Your Lord Ram,
incarnation of Rudra, the gem among
all gods, and protector of the world.
Your body being a manifest form
of the blessings of brahmans, gods,
saints and sages, you are the creator of
the ocean of pious virtues and wisdom –
victory be Yours!
You are an adept in protecting
Sugreev, Jamvant and the bears,
and the prime factor in Bali’s slaying;
a lion killing the demoness Sinhika
while crossing the ocean, and a comet
for the destruction of Lanka of demons,
victory be Yours!
You dispelled the sorrow of Seeta
carrying Ram’s message to her
and ravaged Ravan’s Ashok forest.
You let yourself be enmeshed fearlessly
by the inviolable Bramhastra of Meghnad,
and burnt a terrified Ravan’s Lanka with
the raging fire of your playful tail –
victory be Yours!
You, who were the delight
of Ram and Lakshman, who assembled
the army of monkeys and bears
and built the bridge over the ocean,
for the good of the gods, and helped
Ram of the Surya clan win his battle –
victory be Yours!
Your granite-like body, nails, teeth
and fearsome mouth, with your
terrific brawny arms that can lift
mountains and their trees on your palms,
crushing to pulp demon-hordes like
oilseeds in the oilpress of the battle –
victory be Yours!
You were the cause of the killing of
Ravan, Kumbhkarna, Meghnad and
the wily Kalnemi; You are the mighty
who can make the impossible, possible
and the possible, impossible; You can
wander over the earth, the sky and
even into the depths of the ocean –
victory be Yours!
Worshipped in the world, ever dressed
in the outfit of valour, ever praised
in the holy words of the Vedas and
the wise, and always ready to vanquish
the worldly fears of Tulsidas, always
living in Ayodhya in resplendent glory
with Seeta’s sweetheart Ram -
victory be Yours!
From Maruti Shatakam
2.
When the ferocious Meghnad,
howling and aflame in wrath, was
creating havoc in the Enemy’s forces,
and Sugreev had grown faint,
Nal was in panic and Angad totally trounced,
Jamavant badly doddering and Neel’s face
had gone blue out of dread, Hanuman
had just reached there to help them.
May Hanuman end the woes of all who are good!
3.
Capable of breaking to bits
the chest-bones of the demons, and adept
in rooting out sturdy trees with bare hands;
terrorizing the enemy forces in the battlefield,
invincible in yourself, though a well of kindness,
bent on crushing the limbs of Ravan,
fragile like cane, while shaking the earth
with a lion-like roar – Hanuman - shall
brush away all human vanity like a piece of straw.
7.
Groves of trees were swiftly uprooted
and blown back by whose mighty leap
when He flew across the ocean –
and pierced into the limbs of the demons
crushing their massive chests,
while the flying rocks of the mountains
blew to smithereens Ravan’s majestic palaces
when He, Hanuman, forcefully entered into Lanka -
may He give his blessings to you!
8.
infused with compassion,
Who had pulverized to dust
the huge-limbed Kumbhakarn,
keen-eared for the roar of battles,
and the foaming-sea like chieftain
of Ravan’s army, and who treated
and spared Meghanad like a mere child –
may He absolve you of all your sins!
9.
Son of Wind, Hanuman, like a strong iron statue
with mighty spear-like arms,with the solidity
of a mountain, killing the monstrous fortress guards,
possessing limitless strength like Shiva
in destroying the hateful hordes of demons
as your noble aim, and stunning Ravan,
the king of demons – may He anoint you
with fragrant smears of peace and benediction
in your moments of sorrow!
10.
Before Hanuman, the gigantic earth
looks like a tiny mustard seed
on the serpent hood of god Sheshnag,
who lies like a lotus in the ocean
which itself is like a palmful of water;
indeed the sage Agastya himself looks
a tiny glowworm in the vast sky
while the expanse of the entire sky
is only as long as a step of Vaman,
who like a little bee himself is humming
around the lotus bud, while the god looks
merely like a tiny fruit on a spread out palm –
may that mighty Hanumana, protect you all!
A Note on Translation
The literary pieces presented in English free verse translation here are all related to the well-known episodes in Hanuman’s life, and except Maruti Shtakam, which is written in classical Sanskrit, all others - Hanuman Bahuk, hymns from Vinay Patrika, or the prose summation of Hanuman-related episodes from Ramcharit Manas - are written in Awadhi or Brajbhasha, old dialect forms of Hindi. Besides, the English free verse translation in all cases has been done from their ‘teeka’ or commentary written in modern Hindi. Hence, in that sense, the translations are done not directly from one language into another, but through a third modern Hindi language (of commentary) different, in separate ways, from the source language. This should therefore be seen more as ‘re-creation’ than translation, keeping as close as possible, in meaning, to the source text. It must also be emphasized here that Sanskrit is a synthetic language as opposed to Hindi which is an analytic language, and that the ‘synthetic’ character of Sanskrit was necessitated in olden times for memorizing texts for transmission across generations. Classical Sanskrit, for that reason too, was the language of the literary and learned elite and not of the common people which made it obligatory for such texts to be provided with ‘teeka’ or commentary for the consumption by the common people. For the purposes of the present translation, this meant a transfer of the essential content of the meaning from a complex old language ‘synthetical’ structure through the modern evolved ‘analytical’ structure of a language form (Hindi) of the same family into the ‘analytical’ structure of another language (English) of a different family. Obviously, it is a different kind of translation process which is as complex and challenging as creative and sensitive. Such creative transcreation of a special text with linguistic complexities may result in a shadow representation, something akin to an ‘old wine in a new bottle’ with a fresh creative feel. In that sense, the present transcreation of the older texts is, perhaps, more likely to have attained a parallel identity of its own, with its own richness and warmth. Besides, Maruti Shatakam itself is a parallel creation inspired by Surya Shatakam a poem by Mayurkavi, a 7th century poet.
CONTENTS
General Introduction
Hanuman Bahuk
From Vinay Patrika
From Maruti Shatakam
Hanuman in Ramcharit Manas
Note on Tulsidas & his writings
Note on Maruti Shatakam
Note on Translation
Note on literature on Hanuman
Glossary
(C) Dr BSM Murty
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